Dry Season

It is hot and dry here.  Perhaps I wouldn't refer to it as hot if I was a "native."  I think it has only been 90 degrees or so.  We had some rain earlier this month and I was astonished!  During our first year of living in Southern California, it rained in April and didn't rain again until October.  I grew up in Oregon where it is easy to think in terms of seasons.  Winter is cold and wet, spring is mostly cool and wet, summer is warm and somewhat dry, fall is cold and wet and windy.  I didn't cope well with the constant rain and gloomy skies (the main reason we moved).

The seasons here are more along the lines of spring with some rain but lots of sun, a long and very dry summer, and a cool sometimes rainy fall but mixed with warm and sunny days.  There is no winter.  I don't miss winter!  I have found that I am comfortable and happy if the temperature is between 68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  I like it when it rains a few days each month, especially if that rain comes at night.  All this to say, I've gotten quite picky about my weather.  It bothers me that I will be too hot for the next 3 or 4 months and that my lawn will be dry and brown.

Some perspective is in order as I contemplate my current "dry season."  Check out this blog post that my sister-in-law Holly wrote last year during dry season in Congo:

http://kitumaini.blogspot.com/2010/08/just-when.html

I may be hot, and my yard may be dry due to the cost of water... 

but I have safe water to drink, I have water for showers, water to wash dishes and clothes, water for my garden, and even water to fill up a little plastic pool for my kids.  I don't have to send my kids out to fetch water and worry about their safety while I am at work trying to make enough to feed my family.  We don't stand in line waiting for our turn at a community faucet.  In fact, there are about 8 different water faucets just in my house and yard.  I wish I could share this access to water, especially safe drinking water, with my neighbors across the ocean.

For now, I will work on maintaining a joyful and thankful attitude.  I know I can share that with others!